Japanese Women in Canada Vol. 26 Momoko Shimada

What do you like about Canada?

The fact that they support you without judging you. I like the fact that if I want to start something at this age or this status, I don’t have any ties to what my family or others might think of me.

One of my Canadian friends once told me that I should be as kind to myself as I am to others. I think Canada is a place where you feel less guilty about enjoying yourself. When I think about what I want to do without worrying about being a woman, a mom, a wife, how old I am or anything like that, I feel it is a place where I am not blindfolded by many things and where it is easy to find where my feelings are right now. When I choose to do that, the people around me accept it and support me in a positive way. I think people in Canada are kind to themselves and because they are fulfilled, they are able to pour it out to others.

How long have you lived in Canada? What is your reason for coming?

I came to Vancouver in spring 2011 and got a job as Shiatsu proctor internship and got an immigrant visa later. I had wanted to go abroad since I was in high school, but with five siblings, it was impossible for my parents to support me financially. I studied sports science at university and then went to acupuncture and massage school to get my national qualifications. While I was job hunting, I found an intern job in Canada. In March 2011, just before I came to Canada, I volunteered as an acupuncturist/ Massage therapist in Sendai to help with the disaster from Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which was a very good experience.

I started breakdancing when I was at university, and I went to competitions abroad, such as in New York and Las Vegas. I knew a dancer in Vancouver and asked him if I could dance there, and I found out that there were many competitions in Seattle and LA, which are also close by, so I chose Vancouver.

Tell us about your work as a masseuse.

I currently work at a spa in the Lower Mainland, and I am a massage therapist/ technician (Shiatsu, Thai, Deep tissue and Swedish massage) in Vancouver because I have to retake my acupuncture exam to work in Canada. When my son is a bit older, I’m thinking of taking the acupuncturist exam.

My mother is also an acupuncturist/massage therapist and has been giving me treatments since I was little. I think it was largely due to my mother’s influence that I went to acupuncture school, but I was always interested in the body since I suffered a lot of injuries from a young age. When you go to the doctor with a physical injury, you are usually just told to rest. I chose to become an acupuncturist/massage therapist because I wanted to support dancers and athletes who know they should rest but can’t or don’t want to. The body work is interesting. Treatment is interesting because it feels like a mix of math and PE.

How did you start breakdancing?

I started classical ballet in grade 1 of primary school because my friend’s parents had a ballet studio, and when I was right before grade 7, I injured my Achilles tendon from over-practising and had to take a break. I wanted to dance again and started doing contemporary dance at grade 10. I started breakdancing/street dancing at university after I saw people dancing upside-down with music at freshman events. I joined a street dance club and became so obsessed that I practiced dancing every day in front of train stations and open permitted street areas. In the process, I started to participate in contests and competitions, and once formed a team of ONLY Japanese women and advanced a competition in the USA against a male team.

Momo’s Instagram CLICK HERE

I saw on Instagram that you are also a dancer in Vancouver.

There are not many B-girls(girls/women who dance breakdance) in Canada, especially Vancouver. I often work as a judge. I was recently invited to Red Bull BCone breaking competition National Final in Toronto as a judge. I also work as a facilitator for workshops and classes and get invited to as an exhibition battle guest as well. At the moment, I am working on a dance project that combines house dance and Tai Chi.

I am part of a local all-female hip hop group called Diamonds in the Rough. Throughout the year, we are invited to dance at festivals such as Granville Island and Carfree day. This year we have been a back-up dancer at a concert and also worked as a performer at the Translink Halloween event. I am also a part of NorthWest Bboy team called The Hoodz who have got along after many years of breakdancing here. They always inspire and motivate me to train breakdancing.

I also started working in the film industry during the pandemic and I am now with an agency, working mainly as a dancer.

What is dance for you?

Dance is a part of my life. What I originally wanted to express was my feelings and emotions, so sometimes I improvise and dance freely, sometimes I think about how to create the movements that look interesting. Sometimes I express myself from the inspiration I receive from music. I create by looking at different things and touching different things. I also dance just for fun or share the moments with my friends. For me, it’s more about how dance is also with me in my life, rather than just dancing all the time.

What are your current challenges?

I always have a lot of things I want to do. I’m interested in being a stuntman at the moment, and I’m learning martial arts, specifically Tate (Japanese Sword) and Boxing. I worked in the background at a Japanese TV film called Shogun ( to be released soon in 2023). I saw sword fighting there and that’s when I decided I wanted to try it. I was surprised when I tried it because the movements of putting in and taking out power are similar to those of dance and boxing. It’s cool, fun and inspiring.

What was the hardest thing about coming to Canada? What did you learn from it?

Honestly, the most difficult time was during the pandemic when I could not see my Japanese Family at all, but other than that, there was an event that I still remember vividly.
It was only my second year in the country and I could not speak English at a daily conversational level to my will. There was an incident where a colleague who also spoke some languages was using that to his advantage and stealing customers from other colleagues. When I told the colleague that this was not fair, I felt very frustrated because my English did not come out well and I was argued down. This was the moment when I realized that I wanted to be able to communicate and deal with things in English. After that, I studied TESOL and business English very hard. Then I had an incident where I was able to properly communicate my intentions and solve the problem, and I thought I had overcome the language barrier.

What do you like to do?

I love dancing and analyzing the human body to help them heal. Fortunately, I do what I love for a living. Other than that, I like meeting people and sharing moments. I prefer to travel and buy experiences rather than buying things. So if there are interesting things going on, I like to go. I am pretty active.

Tell us about what you want to do or dream of doing in the future?

I would like to have my own spa and studio. It has been my dream since I started going to acupuncture school. I’d like to rent out my studio for events and dance classes. As a big dream, I think it would be fun to have a whole building, fitness on the ground floor, day care on the second floor, nail salon and massage spa on the third floor and so on with all my friends.

What is your creed or motto?

It is to live life one day at a time. After the earthquake and pandemic, I felt it once again. Since I came to Canada, I realized that there are many people living ‘their own way’ and that there is no need to feel guilty about living happily. There was a time when I used to argue a lot with my son, but I aim to end the day with a smile and say I love you at the end of the day.

Momo is raising a four-year-old boy.

I got married and gave birth to a son, but we divorced when our mutual orientations became different and I am now raising him on my own. My son goes to a daycare a couple of days during the weekdays, but I take my son with me to practices and weekend dance events. A lot of people love him and he has so many more friends than I do. I can’t appreciate all my friends, teammates and the Vancouver street dance community enough. Although I raise him as a single parent, I try not to let that be a negative thing. I think I show my son that life is fun by living a great life, with finding what I love and doing things I love, even though there are some hard things in life. I sometimes argue with my son, but I listen to his opinions as well as my own, discuss them and cooperate with him in our life. I tell my son my honest feelings, that I can’t do it all alone without his help in order to do what we want to do, and I manage to work and raise my child well.

Vancouver is a great place to live and raise children, and I am reminded of how easy it is to raise children here. I hope my son will find something he loves and it will help him to lead his life when he faces some problem in the future.

What she realized while raising children.

When you have children, you often have to put being a mom first. When my son was born, there was a time when I thought I wasn’t a good mom. I think I was trying too hard to be a “good mom”. When I was asked to do dance work, I experienced how much I missed my son when I came home from work, which made me realize that it was okay to have a ‘Momo’ at the same time a category ‘Mom’. Once I became aware that it was okay to be myself before being a mom, things started to go well. I learnt that it is very important to remove the various ‘categories’ and be aware of being ‘me’ first. I wish this kind of awareness would become more open in Japan.

On choosing to divorce

I was very scared before I became single, partly because I was longing for a “normal home”. If I had been in Japan, I would have chosen not to divorce by restraining myself. I think I was able to do it because I was in Canada. I feel that Canada is a place where you can strike a good balance. Since I was a little girl, I have always thought that whatever choice I make, it will change depending on how I act, and so far it has been going well and it will always be up to me.

Lastly,

I used to be afraid of breaking the stability I once established. Some people here say they are 100% sure coming and don’t show up on the next day. I once asked a Canadian friend why. They told me that their feelings at the time were 100% sure, but that circumstances and physical conditions change every day and that forcing themselves to go when they didn’t want to go at the time was not kind to themselves.

What I have learnt over the years is that I change too. The way I dance changes, the things I like to do change. Change is not a bad thing. All things change. Change is usually uncomfortable. I used to think that my motto in life was to be comfortable with that uncomfortableness, but now I have come to see uncomfortableness as normal. When you have children and the environment changes, the stage changes. When the stage changes, the way you think changes and you change. It’s something you adapt to, for better or worse. That’s like that for life. Since I started thinking this way, I have come to think that it takes courage to do something new, but that change is not a bad thing, and I no longer have to be so rigid. I am now able to try things that I used to be too scared to try.

Editor’s Comment

I first met Momo when she came with her son to the Taiwan Festival, where we had a booth for Ogojo Jan Chili Sauce. I saw the arm muscles and asked her if she was an athlete, but to my surprise, Momo is a break dancer. The Momo on her Instagram is not the Momo Mama I met, but Momo the dancer, who is super cool. When I interviewed her, I found she was also super cool in her way of life. She came to Canada, got married, had a baby, raised her kids, worked as a masseuse, travelled around as a dancer and even been trying her hand at acting. I realize that it is me and no one else who is limiting myself. I think that one thing that is common for Japanese women who come to Canada is that they cannot rely on others well. However, Momo is raising her children with the help of those around her and living honestly with what she wants to do. I’m sure she had many struggles before she got there, but now she accepts her situation and manages to get through it. I really respect her.

Momo won a breakdance competition in Canada and will be participating in an international competition in France in the summer with her son. Please follow her Instagram and support her!

Momo’s Instagram CLICK HERE